REUNION
The Protestant world, especially its evangelical wing, is watching the overtures that Rome is making to the Eastern Orthodox Church, recently made public by Pope John XXIII. Many Protestant leaders would welcome reunion not only with the Eastern Church but with other sections of Christendom. Others have called for a forthright declaration by the World Council of Churches that no reunion can be contemplated with an unreformed Roman Church.
It is difficult to see how any forswearing of reunion could be forthcoming in view of the following statement in the constitution of the World Council of Churches: "The function of the World Council shall be: (1) to carry on the work of the two world movements for Faith and Order and for Life and Work." The avowed object of these movements, according to Sasse's history of these bodies, was to establish "one visible church of Christ" in which Rome was to be specifically included.
Furthermore, in Christ and His Church, p. 107, Bishop Stephen Neill, formerly associate General Secretary of the World Council, stated definitely: "Membership of the World Council of Churches is open to any church which professes faith in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour. The invitation to Rome stands always open."
H. W. L.
"TUTTI FRATELLI"
The Red Cross was born one hundred years ago. A young man from Geneva had come to the region where the dreadful battle of Solferino was in progress. He came because he wanted to see Emperor Napoleon III. Instead he saw loads of wounded brought into Castiglione every few minutes. They were all races—French, German, Arabs, Slays, Italians—and they were lying about on the roads and flagstoned streets suffering, groaning, cursing, and dying.
As Jean Henri Dunant saw the horror of it all, he went into action, rounding up Lombardy peasant women from their homes„ and organized a system of first aid, which has grown into a world-embracing Red Cross organization. As he looked on all the suffering races a phrase rang in his mind: "Tutti Fratelli ["all are brothers"]!"
Dunant's genius had its roots in the Christian faith, He became one of the founders of the World Alliance of the Young Men's Christian Association. He looked on the masses, and like his great Master, was moved with compassion. "My heart burns within me" was one of his phrases, and when he went into action he cried, "I render glory to God for all that the Lord has done!"
H.W.L.
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
In a recent book entitled A New Heaven and a New Earth, by Archibald Hughes (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1958), a not-too-well-known statement by W. G. Campbell Morgan on Israel is given. For years Dr. Morgan gave the earthly or physical Israel a place in God's plans for the kingdom, but in 1943, two years before his death, he used these words:
"I am not quite convinced that all the promises made to Israel have found, are finding, and will find their perfect fulfillment in the church. It is true that in the past, in my expositions, I gave a definite place to Israel in the purposes of God. I have now come to the conviction, as I have just said, that it is the new and spiritual Israel that is intended."
